N7: Priority Earth
by flavored-band-aids
Summary: The Reapers hit without warning. Earth took the brunt of the attack. A few of us remained behind to protect and defend, to keep what's left of the Earth free, or die trying. The rest: scattered across the galaxy searching for everyone and anything that could help us get an upper hand back home. We are more than soldiers and these are our stories.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was an overwhelm of the senses that brought him to his point: bent over, palm bracing himself on the remnants of a wall in the apartment complex he was hiding in, so that he could empty his stomach out onto the ruined carpet beneath his feet. It had only been one week since he was clumsily lobbed into the battlefield and he was already having difficulties experiencing the true horrors and madness of the extermination on Earth. N7 Recruit or not, it was hard for any living thing to stomach the current sights and continue on. So he'd finally given in to _not_ stomaching it, hoping that with a vacant gut he might be able to push past the piles of shock faced corpses, ash filled air, and all around annihilation of everything he knew and loved.

It didn't really work, but he felt a bit better.

Bringing up his hand, he wiped his mouth a few times before flicking it to clear the saliva and remnants of puke off his gauntlet. He straightened then, pulled his helmet back on, and headed away from the mess he'd made in the corner over to 'the perch' he'd been shooting from.

Out of his week in London, he'd already spent two days barricaded in this apartment, raining bullets down at any and all Reapers that tried to pass through this street he was stationed to hold. First it had been with the remainder of his thrown together squad; a tiny group made mostly out of N7 Recruits and one actual N7 Operative to lead them. That group was quickly bulldozed down though.

The first day, they'd lost their Vanguard. The man had gotten a bit too bold, a bit too cocky, in his biotic charges and as a result made a fatal mistake: jumped right into a Banshee. There was nothing they could do, no matter how hard they tried. There were too many Reapers, he was too far away, and as a result they had to watch in horror as the lengthy abomination drove it's fingers into the young man's abdomen only to pull out every organ that was once hiding in the human biotic. The group dropped from five to four.

Shaking the memory from his head he slowly lowered himself back down onto the perch, lying on his stomach next to his Phasteon. He took a few seconds to check it over, dust it off, and reload it with a fresh clip. Finally then he took in a deep breath, forced himself to relax, and start his scope, aim, shoot routine all over again.

The fourth day was when they lost both their Captain and Adept to three Brutes. They'd been making their way through a parking garage in the center of London when their Adept was suddenly grabbed, then thrashed and smashed harshly into the cement, before finally the Brute flung her right over them and into the wall. They didn't have time to check the girl's pulse for they were thrown straight into combat, but the group got their answer when they saw how odd her neck looked. This led them to conclude that her neck had snapped after the first time the Brute smashed her into the cement. The group took relief in this realization: for she had died quickly thus saving her from the pain she was to feel had she been alive through the whole ordeal. The group dropped from four to three.

The Captain had not been so lucky though. They'd been forced to retreat from the Brutes due to lack of back-up and in the process had gotten confused in the maze of floors and cars. Himself and their Engineer managed to get out only to realize that the Captain was lagging behind due to the fact he'd found a missile launcher. They'd started to run into the garage again to help give fire cover, but they stopped when the Captain shook his head and firmly ordered them to go.

He had realized long before the young recruits that the Brutes were going to kill them all if they weren't taken down, so the Captain took it upon himself to bite the bullet. He took the three Brutes and the entire parking structure down with him in death by aiming and firing the missile at the last sturdy support block of the structure. Their group dropped, once again, from three to two.

It was quiet, way too quiet for his liking really. Not even the Husks were out salvaging for the bodies of the dead. It irked him. Letting his hand drift up to his helmet, he flicked off the mute on his radio so that he could be once again heard through the channels. He cleared his throat and clicked into his professional mode:

" Foxtrot this is Tango, over."

There was static silence, and then a surprised voice greeted him. " Tango? We heard the lot of you were dead!" So much for professionalism. Then again, they were all located in a highly dangerous warzone with most of their troops being wiped out and replaced with civilian volunteers, it could be worse." Where are you bunking down at?"

" About…." He took a moment to clench his teeth together in thought," I'd say two to three clicks west from Big Ben. Been holding off some of the smaller boys for a day or two." He reported with a small sigh, shaking his head as the man he was talking to started to click his tongue over the radio. He glanced back behind him looking at what was left of his supplies in the corner." We're out of supplies and need back up. The Reaper's have gone silent on this side of the city…..which means they're probably sending the bigger boys in."

" How many of you are left?" He found himself silent then, his mind wandering at the question. He'd lost the Engineer last night to panic and lack of faith. One shot to the head, suicide. Snapping out of his momentary trance, he directed his eyes at the street below him." One." He replied solemnly.

Static filled the radio once again before finally there was a reply." Crap….o.k…..uhhh…." there was a bit of background chatter between a few people then before the voice finally returned on the radio," Look I don't know who or where the highest ranking official is, nor do I fucking care. Let my team and I finish resupplying and we'll head over to join you. As far as anyone's concerned, you're with us now. Just bunker down for ten minutes. Think you can handle it?"

He watched as a Husk wandered unknowingly into his scope. Quickly switching to the Widow he'd picked up off a dead Solider from below, he no-scoped the Husk. A crack rang through the air loud and clear before the once Human dropped dead onto the group, it's chest lying in pieces around him. Loading the gun once again he responded," I can do that."

**Author's Note: **Whelp. Here this goes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

" We're not going to get him."

" Wait, what? Tombs said we'd get him and our mission objective is search and rescue." A petite woman stated shockedly as she watched the man in front of her tug the assault rifle off his back.

" No, our mission is to search and rescue pedestrians not stupid gutless soldiers. Besides this is not Tomb's squad."

The blonde woman shook her head in disbelief, taking a moment to glance back at Tombs – the meat wall of a man behind her who was previously on the radio - before she hurried after her commanding officer." You can't just do that!" She shouted then as she jumped over a fallen lamp post, skipping a few times afterwards so she wouldn't tumble. With a grunt the man looked over his shoulder," And why can't I? I am the highest ranking official in this squad so it's _my_ squad. Besides the kid sounded green- he'd be more of a liability than anything. By the time we get there, he'll probably be dead."

" _Probably_, not _will be_. If we don't help him then he _will be_." The blonde argued once again through clenched teeth.

The man snorted in reply before he rolled his shoulders to brush the woman off. Without a second thought the girl did a cart-wheel, landing right infront of the man to gain his full attention. " Look! We need all the troops we can get right now! We go help him!" She snapped.

The man straightened before he suddenly grabbed the girl by the front of her skin tight suit." You may be in the N7 program, but I'm the one who gives orders here." He growled as he gave her a firm shake." Now rather listen to them or get the fuck out of my way." With that he tossed her to the side and continued walking down the street. Stumbling slightly, the woman caught herself, her hand drifting up to the sword on her back. Before she could do anything though, a hand landed on her shoulder to stop her.

" Come on….There's not much we can do." Tombs muttered down to her as he helped the girl straighten up. He then patted her on the shoulder sympathetically a few times then before he continued on down the street with the rest of the squad.

The Infiltrator took a moment to sigh then, shaking her head as she fell in line and followed orders.

~X~

" F-F-Fifteen minutes my freezing a-a-ass." He stuttered as he tried to blow hot air into his hands in an effort to keep warm. Taking a moment to rub his hands together and bring his legs up into his chest, he noticed the loss of feeling in his feet." That's it I can't stay here anymore. I rather get shot than freeze to death."

With a groan, the male forced himself to his feet, stretching his limbs in order to wake them up. Checking himself over, he made his way over to the snow covered 'perch' to retrieve his scavenged sniper rifle. Clicking his tongue he knelt down to retrieve the Widow only to hesitate when he heard a loud roar off in the distance. Without a second thought he hunkered down onto the concrete slab and started to search for the source of the noise.

Slowly, single wounded Brute trudged its way down the street, it's Turian like head swiveling from left to right as it patrolled. Quickly pulling out an extra thermal clip from his armor, the human placed it next to him. He then breathed a few times, steadying himself before he finally held his breath and took a shot at the monster- right between its beady little eyes. The Brute immediately stumbled back, it's face covered in blood and roaring in pain, giving him enough time to quickly reload and quickly shoot the Brute again in the head.

The beast stumbled forward onto the ground, its attention now drawn to the un-structurally sound apartment building the N7 Recruit was hiding in. It roared in angered pain once again, it's cry echoing through the abandoned city streets, before it slumped down onto the ground with a dying gurgling grunt. A smile of victory spread across the human's face. " Yes."

Lowering his forehead onto the concrete slab, he couldn't help but mentally celebrate. That was until a second roar echoed through the streets. The grin immediately faded when the young man looked up to see two Brutes inspect over their dead comrade. Of course, that single Brute had to be traveling in a pack. They always did, he should have known better. Suddenly, he had two pairs of red eyes on his location, and then two charging Brutes headed for him.

" Shit."

**Author's Note: **Dramatic change in this story. I have expanded this to include as many of my Multiplayer groups/partners as I want. Some will play major roles, some will make brief appearances.


End file.
